Bold burglars have city residents uneasy

MANCHESTER — A spike in weekend burglaries left residences with broken screens, windows and pushed-in air conditioners with electronics and other items stolen.

The five burglaries happened between 11 a.m. on Saturday and 10:20 a.m. on Sunday.

In one case, a brazen thief broke into a Walnut Street home when the homeowner was outside mowing her lawn.

In another instance, a thief tried to break into a Laurel Street home at night while the homeowner was sleeping. The burglar was thwarted by safety stops on the windows, police said.

Burglars mostly stole electronic items, but coins were taken in one instance, police said.

The city averages 15 burglaries — both commercial and residential — a week in the summer, though break-ins spiked to about 30 a week during a two-week period in mid July. Many of those burglaries since resulted in arrests.

The Aug. 24-25 burglaries are as follows:

• An Elmwood Avenue resident reported finding his side porch door shattered about 11 a.m. Saturday and his house ransacked but nothing appeared to have been taken.

• A Brown Avenue resident reported about 4:30 p.m. that he left the house for about an hour and returned home to find the door unlocked and electronic items taken. No sign of forced entry.

• A Queen City Avenue resident returned home about 5:30 p.m. Saturday to find someone broke into his apartment through a side window. Two gaming systems were taken.

• A 49-year-old Laurel St. woman woke up Sunday morning to find a hole cut in her window screen and the window partially opened. Safety stops prevented it from being completely opened. She believes someone tried to get in overnight as she slept. She had been burglarized Aug. 17 when someone was able to push open a window and steal a laptop just inside the window.

• A Walnut Street woman told police about 10:20 a.m. Sunday that her home had been broken in to while she was in the back yard mowing her lawn. She and a neighbor spotted a man walking in the alley and through yards and decided to check the house. She noticed a porch door screen pushed in, her purse ransacked and coins missing. It appears the suspect may have been scared off since other valuables were left behind.

The city had 77 burglaries reported between Aug. 1-23. This compares with 64 burglaries reported during the same time frame last year.